Comedian Daniel Sloss has gone on record, speaking to The Times, telling them that female comedians set up online groups to warn others about people they’ve worked with and had difficult experiences with, including predatory behaviour.
Mr Sloss told the times: “I know for many, many years that women have been warning each other about Russell.”
At least five other male comedians have been named in the conversations, MailOnline reports.
They include famous stars of TV, radio and stage - some still working, others who have disappeared from the limelight.
Mr Sloss said there were ‘many stories with varying degrees of severity’.
Comedian Sara Pascoe has also claimed there are two well-known predators in the comedy circuit.
She indicated that there is more than one predator in the comedy industry, including “a man that’s assaulted men.”
Comedian Stevie Martin disclosed the WhatsApp group existed as long ago as 2020, telling the Telegraph: “A Whatsapp-based blacklist began circulating of predatory male comics and promoters. It’s growing every day.”
Yes, some women do privately warn other women about their previous experiences with mutual acquaintances, it helps to keeps people safe. I understand reporting on Brand’s long-rumoured behaviour is a big topic right now, but “colleagues talked online” is a strange angle to take for this title. It’s almost like the author is surprised groups of people discuss shared experiences.
Perhaps the headline could be “entire industry didn’t address constant rumours about Brand for 15 years”?
Comedian Stevie Martin disclosed the WhatsApp group existed as long ago as 2020, telling the Telegraph: “A Whatsapp-based blacklist began circulating of predatory male comics and promoters. It’s growing every day.”
In 2018, I was invited to join a Whatsapp group that acted as a safe space for hundreds of female comedians to discuss and help each other. I left it a month later, at 5am.
It was excellent. Five stars. Members of the group launched the ‘Home Safe Collective’ to make sure comics - women, trans women and non-binary - could get cabs home safely during late night shows at the Edinburgh Fringe. But I left the group because the things these women had gone through terrified me. I started to feel panicky whenever I heard my phone ping.
There were stories of promoters harassing them, intimidation and bullying backstage, groping and snide comments by MCs, gigs to avoid and venues to steer clear of. The ‘Home Safe Collective’ itself was started after the murder of Australian comedian Eurydice Dixon as she walked home after a gig. It seemed like this was just part of the female comedy landscape, and rather than getting any help, it was up to women to solve it. To protect themselves. Because nobody else seemed to be. Our MeToo moment just didn’t seem to be happening.
